Dear Members and sympathisers of the Social Democratic Front,

Fellow Cameroonians,

Another year has come to pass and once again we are blessed to celebrate a milestone, the birth of our great party the SDF, a day which marks a pivotal point in the lives of every Cameroonian and the African continent.

Today we celebrate 32 sound years in the struggle for a better, fairer, and just society. We celebrate our collective decisions to endeavour to .make our government and institutions more responsive to the needs of the people, our earnest drive to truly preserve our national unity and cohesion, not by chanting empty rhetoric, but by making sound suggestions and proposing policies for a system of governance that best ensures this noble pursuit.

On this day 32 years ago, we took a brave decision to bear the responsibilities of building the nation of our dreams, one of prosperity and solidarity that puts the Cameroonian people at the heart of every decision, a nation that dignifies our identities, preserves our culture, celebrates our diversity, bequeaths to posterity sound institutions, steeped in a culture of mutual respect, the rule oflaw and a full-fledged democracy that ensures we are united in purpose and destiny.

Today, 32 years after, these legitimate aspirations are still expected because we are not yet in power, but we are nevertheless still very concerned that all that caused the creation of the party are still very significant and can only be
resolved by our collective contributions.

My hearty congratulations therefore go out to you, valiant soldiers of social democracy, vanguards of equal opportunities, advocates of social justice and relentless nation builders. Fearless by birth, you have withstood some of the most testing times, and you deserve to be celebrat.ed, for holding the fort to this point. Happy 32nd Anniversary!

Dear Members, sympathisers,
Fellow Cameroonians,

During previous anniversary messages, I have had the occasion to highlight some of the seismic achievements our great party has scored under some of the most trying conditions. I will not list these enumerable feats, but to recall that all these are not the achievements of any individual, but· from our collective hard-fought actions. These achievements were obtained by a mix of both popular and unpopular decisions, with a clear objective of ensuring that the party stays in the relevant debates and stays true to its mission of bringing about positive change in Cameroon.

Our strategy in either a boycott or participation is defined by an objective and prior to such, is a gradual build up to a point where the final decision will ensure that we obtain the set objective, that a very firm message is transmitted to the powers that be and that our nation moves towards an equal and free society.

This is no easy path to take. It has required us teaching ourselves and raising the standards, not just for the conquer of power, but the transformation of our political discourse, the elevation of our political thought, the full engagement of every Cameroonian to adopt a path that preserves lives and secures our nation from disaster - the force of argument, the building on consensus as opposed to propagating differences. Extremisms are incompatible with nation building, national unity and social democracy. Our real radicality lies in our ability to mobilize and assemble, that remains our challenge.

I am proud to say we have taken that challenge serious over the last 32 years and today unions are rising across the nation, from teachers asking for their rights to be respected, to lawyers protesting the non-respect of our bi-jural system, Cameroonians are no longer in the dark and cannot easily be politically manipulated.

From our birth, we are the party that has stood with Cameroonians of all walks of life, winning their hearts by fighting for their rights and instilling hope and believe in our nation. We have always had a message that is simple and clear, that we can do the things that seem impossible if we come together, with a clear vision and through a system that efficiently allocates our resources, for every Cameroonian to be a part of this great development agenda. That is our message of federalism, not limited to the politics of form, but much more profound about emerging as a giant on the continent.

Cameroonians believed in it then just as they still strongly do today. They massively voted for this agenda, but political expediency derailed us from attaining the true position that is ours. Today, you are all witness to the fact that government is obliged to go back to the drawing board, having fully experienced all the weaknesses and failures we have been decrying for the past 32 years.

These failures have unfortunately pushed some Cameroonians to pick-up arms, which certainly could have been avoided with the implementation of SDF policies either by being in power or by being listened-to by government. It is our believe that a federal dispensation with appropriate financial equalization is a key solution to the current crisis in our beloved country. On the lip of every Cameroonian today is a clamour for a return to a federal form of governance, a topic that was hitherto taboo.

Congratulations once again to you, astute militants of the struggle, you must take full credit for this formidable progress.

32 years ago we ushered in multipartyism and today we are certainly on track to usher in a federal system that is desired and accepted by every single son and daughter of this nation. We must therefore keep being the visionaries of this country and the engine of local development. We must keep on rolling up our sleeves and doing the dirty job to ensure that we build the country we aspire for.

Cameroonians have their hope for a better future in our Party.

They want us to harness the strength of our diversity for the good of our country. We call on all sons and daughters of this country to join us in achieving
this goal

It is on this note that I close this message of encouragement to you. We are currently carrying out reorganisation exercises in the party to rejuvenate party structures. We invite all Party members and Cameroonians in general to be part of this exercise. This will enable us to redeploy on the field.

We are a party prepared to govern and we will govern. We will deliver our policies that will transform this country once in power, but to do so we need to come together as one and speak the language we Cameroonians understand. To find consensus and to stay focused on the mission of building our country.

I would like to thank all those who have stood by our side through this journey. I would like to especially thank the SDF Europe Think Tank for all their hard work as we set up to emerge stronger and better post this reorganisation exercise.

Long live the SDF party
Long live our beloved nation Cameroon

Ni John Fru Ndi, National Chairman 

• Prev
• Next